I am not as Think as you drunk I am...

Just the other day, I had a non-alcoholic beer in New Braunfels, Texas. It was a German beer with a German meal of schnitzel, cabbage and boiled potatoes (Mit butter) It was wonderful and enjoyed the taste.  For the first time in a long time I found that I could enjoy the taste without the craving for another, and another and another.   For the longest part of my life I really liked beer.  No, I really, really liked beer. 


While I had many a drunk night in the Military, I drank before I went in and after I came out.  No one to blame there.  I like many others must stand up and be accountable for myself on that front.


The other day, I was looking for a phone number in my old "Day Runner" and found the Micro fish from my time in the Service.  I went down to the National Guard Headquarters to see if they had a machine to read the darned thing and I was taken back that they no longer had anyway to read one.  Even the archives section no longer uses one.  They sent the old files off to be put in a data base and I forgot to ask if I could get a copy on a disk.  I found my military life reduced to 392 itty bitty files and no way to read them.  


The biggest surprise was that the Library had a film/fish reader and they were glad to show me how to use it and I did.  There wasn't a lot to be surprised about, except for the lack of documentation of all the TDY's to other units in Vietnam.  Heck, there wasn't even an order when I got "Infused" from one major unit to another.  I did find that I was in battery A, 6th Bn, 84th Artillery , Service Battery and then C, 1-92nd as the FDO then XO.    I had trouble remembering that detail even if the war stories come back loud and clear.  


For the most part, my OERs over the years said good things about me.  I was amazed that one OER took a pot shot at me for getting out of the Military after Vietnam.  All the time, one leader after another told me that the Military would not want me without a degree.  They never offered to put me through college except for the GI Bill so what the hell did they expect?   I got my degree from KU and then joined the Guard full time.  I don;t regret one day of it.  Hell, I may not remember things from time to time but no regrets.


MUD